Pursuing the Dream: Air Reservist Publishes Her First Novel

Corporal Cary Conder, an Air Reserve RMS clerk at 443 Maritime Helicopter Squadron in Sydney, B.C., proudly holds her first published science fantasy novel.

2Lt Sonia Dumouchel-Connock
Western Area Air Reserve Public Affairs

After working for 26 years to write and publish her first science fantasy novel, an Air Reservist at 443 Maritime Helicopter Squadron has seen her dream of becoming a published novelist realized.

“It feels like I’ve gotten over the hump and I feel vindicated,” says Corporal Cary Conder, whose novel Half a Rune was published last month by iUniverse, an independent American publishing house. “I sometimes wish it had happened earlier – but I’m really happy.”

Half a Rune is a story of tolerance and coexistence set on a feudalistic planet called Fimiah. It’s a coming of age story about a young man called Hafrin, who learns that the family who raised him is not his biological family and that he is of royal descent and possesses telepathic abilities.

An average person with imperfections, Hafrin “tries to muddle through” the various situations life throws at him.

“I work with characters who aren’t perfect,” says Cpl Conder. “You want them to be believable. If a character finds it too easy to do something, they’re not believable. They have to have stumbling blocks to overcome to make their lives worthwhile.”

Cpl Conder began writing this fantasy novel in 1980. “The initial draft took me one and a half months,” she says. “With all the rewrites, it took me four or five months to write.”

The Air Reservist perfected the novel by participating in several science fiction convention writers’ workshops. “You submit chapters of your novel as well as an outline of the work and it gets reviewed and critiqued by other writers,” explains the writer.

Cpl Conder sees the publication of Half a Rune as just the beginning of her career as a published writer. “I have another nine manuscripts at home that I need to work on,” she says. “I’m working towards rewriting all of them so that they can all be published.” She also plans to have Half a Ring, the sequel to Half a Rune, ready for publication in the fall of 2004.

A self-described “binge” writer who can write prolifically and quickly, the reservist has also written a Star Wars “fan fiction” trilogy and six Hawaii 5-0 “fan fiction” novels that can be found on the internet.

More information about Cpl Conder’s novel and its March 19th book launch can be obtained by emailing the following address: caconder@islandnet.com